If you don't like the idea of boys dating. Don't read.
Nick Jonas and Joe James were parked in line, awaiting to pay for their groceries. Both had just recently turned eighteen, and decided, as they really couldn't handle their parents anymore, to finally move out. They bought a good, cheap apartment near their high school, as they still had one more year to go, and took up part-times jobs to pay for it, the food, and the car. Still, they always seemed to find time to drop by Kevin's place and rock out with the few band members that still stayed in touch after the bit of years.
"Hey, Nick, give me a quarter," the addressed male raised a delicate eyebrow at his best friend's command before digging into his pocket and pulling out a quarter.
"Why do you want a quarter?" he asked back, dropping the coin in the brunette's waiting hand.
"Not telling," he claimed, brushing past the person just finishing paying for her groceries and going to some place Nick didn't even feel like thinking about.
Sometimes, no matter how "punk" the brunette boy had turned, he always had that immature streak run through him once in while...more like, all the time. Just like how, even though NIck managed to reveal himself more and not be so timid, he still found himself reverting back to his sixth grade self in large crowds sometimes.
Ignoring his best friend of five years, he watched as the male at the cash register scanned the prices of their foods -- it was finally his turn -- and grouped them in plastic bags. After a few uneventful minutes, the total price was stated and Nick handed him the approximation in bills. Just at about that time, Joe came bounding back to where Nick was. The brunette motioned towards the bags, and both boys picked about even number of bags to carry and pushed the cart to where it belonged.
Joe had persuaded his friend to walk to the store, as it was closeby, claiming he didn't want to waste gas if they could walk there. Besides, he had said, it's a good day. Nick shrugged at the other's words, deciding just to go along with it, because frankly, he didn't know where his roomate hid the keys.
The two walked in silence before hitting the streets and being surrounded by a bunch of people. It was the time of day that the crowds were rather large, and Nick couldn't help but shrink into his friend walking next to him. Well, his friend he thought was walking next to him.
However, much to his dismay, the brunette was in front of him, facing him. The odd part? He was on one knee, grocery bags set aside for the moment. The people around started paying attention to the weird occurrence, and Jonas felt his cheeks warm with all the unwanted attention.
"Nicholas Jerry," Joe said seriously, though still with a devious smile, taking something out of his pocket, "Will you marry me?"
The brunette identified the object as a plastic, twenty-five cent ring. Well, that solved the quarter mystery. He looked critically down at his friend, seeing the equivalent dazzling in the other's eyes. He swallowed the lump in his throat at their up-until-now-secret relationship that was suddenly publicly exposed. He didn't have to look around him, but he knew the small circle of people had grown in size.
Nick felt peculiarly uncomfortable in this situation, but hanging out with Joe for so long must've rubbed off on him, as he knew perfectly well how to backfire his boyfriend's plan of embarrassing him. With bags still in his hands and all, a mischevious smirk tracing his pale lips, he leaned in and pecked the other on the lips in front of everyone, plucking the cheap ring out of the boy's fingers.
"Not until you get a better ring," he said, a supercilious look expanding over his face as he brushed past his kneeling friend and right through the crowd.
